General Information | Carolina Public Humanities

For more information about our different series of programs, please visit the “Events” page.

Adventures in Ideas Seminars

Registration and Confirmation for In Person Registration: Pre-registration is required for all Adventures in Ideas in person seminars. You may register online or may call us at 919-962-1544 to register. Online registration closes two days before the start of each seminar. For last minute registrations, contact us by phone or e-mail. Registrants will be mailed a post card confirmation after their payment has been processed (generally within two to five business days). In addition, two to three weeks before the start of each seminar, participants will receive a packet that includes directions to the seminar, an agenda, and any background readings suggested by the speakers.

Meals and Activities: Each seminar usually includes an optional meal. You will be on your own for other meals, however, and are free to sample any of Chapel Hill’s many fine restaurants. Some seminars may include a film or play in the evenings.

Being on or near the University’s campus, you will have the opportunity to see the collections of the Ackland Art Museum, visit the Morehead Planetarium, take a walking tour of campus, or attend one of the University’s frequent musical or artistic performances. For a listing of UNC events, see the UNC calendar at http://events.unc.edu/.

Registration and Confirmation for Virtual Registration: Pre-registration is required for all Adventures in Ideas virtual seminars. You may register online or may call us at 919-962-1544 to register. Virtual registration closes one day before the start of each seminar. For last minute registrations, contact us by phone or e-mail. Virtual participants will receive an email with background materials about 1 week before the program and a Zoom link either the day before or the morning of the event.

Scholarships and Discounts

Carolina Alumni Sponsorship and Discounts: Adventures in Ideas seminars are co-sponsored by Carolina Alumni . Membership for Carolina Alumni is open to all friends of the University as well as former students. One of the benefits of membership is a $15 discount on the registration for one seminar per semester. For information about Carolina Alumni membership, or about any of the travel and enrichment programs sponsored by Carolina Alumni, please call

UNC Students, Faculty, & Staff: All currently enrolled UNC-CH students, faculty, and staff are welcome to attend the Humanities in Action series at Flyleaf Books. Please present your One Card for admission. Please note that paying participants receive priority registration.

UNC-CH faculty and staff are eligible for a 50% discount on the tuition for our weekend seminars. Advance registration is required, and optional meals are full price.

UNC-CH graduate and undergraduate students are invited to attend our weekend seminars free of charge, space permitting, but advance registration is required. Students may request to register beginning the Monday before the seminar by calling our main phone number, 919-962-1544, or by emailing our registrar at human@unc.edu. Any optional meals are full price.

For all other students, please contact Max Owre at owre@email.unc.edu for special student initiative pricing.

Of the following three types of discounts/scholarships, only ONE may be taken per seminar:

First Time Participants Receive a Discount: Participants attending their first Adventures in Ideas seminar are entitled to a $30 discount on the tuition cost for that seminar.

Three or More Seminar Discount: Each participant who registers for three or more Adventures in Ideas seminars is entitled to deduct $10 from the cost of each seminar. Please note, however, that if you cancel one or more of these three seminars, the tuition for the remaining seminar or seminars IF FEWER THAN THREE, will revert to the regular price. Your refund will reflect the adjusted price.

K-12 and Community College Teachers Discounts & Stipends

A discount of 50% of the tuition is offered for all Adventures in Ideas seminars for currently employed full-time teachers, librarians, and administrators in K-12 public and private schools and community colleges. In addition, teachers who attend an Adventures in Ideas seminar can apply for a $75 stipend via the Daisy Edmister Fund! Please see our page for teachers for more information.

Parking: Convenient parking will be made available for all seminars as much as possible. If a location on campus is not immediately adjacent to convenient parking, we will inform you in the preparatory materials sent two to three weeks before a seminar. While all buildings are handicap-accessible, please let us know if you have difficulty walking or with stairs so that we can arrange parking for you.

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Humanities in Action and Flyleaf Summer Series at Flyleaf Books

Registration and Confirmation for in person attendance: Pre-registration is preferred for Humanities in Action & Flyleaf Summer Series events. Unless an event is sold out, online registration for Humanities in Action & Flyleaf Summer Series events will be open until the day of the event. Please call us at 919-962-1544 to register on the same day of the event.

Meals and Activities: There are plenty of dining options in the same shopping center as Flyleaf Books, such as The Root Cellar, Hunam Chinese Restaurant, and Lucha Tigre.

Registration and Confirmation for Virtual Registration: Pre-registration is required for all virtual Humanities in Action lectures. You may register online or may call us at 919-962-1544 to register. Virtual registration closes three hours before the start of each seminar. For last minute registrations, contact us by phone or e-mail. Virtual participants will receive an email with a Zoom link either the day of the event.

Tuition and Discounts: Tuition is $20.00 for everyone paying at the door. Register ahead of time and pay $18.00 per program. Pay only $13 if you are a member of the UNC General Alumni Association (GAA). Registration must be received 1 business day before the event to receive the GAA discount tuition. If you take the GAA discount and are not a GAA member, you will be asked to join or pay the difference before the event. To check your membership status or to join the GAA, please visit alumni.unc.edu or call 800.962.0742.

Cancellation Policy: Refunds for tuition (minus a $5 administrative fee for each registration) will be made for cancellations made at least one business day before a seminar unless you have a Season Pass, in which case there is no refund once the series has begun.

Parking: Available in the shopping center lot surrounding Flyleaf Books.

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Cancellation Policy

If an event is cancelled, the full tuition amount will be refunded or can be applied as credit towards other programming.

Participants who need to cancel a seminar will receive a refund for tuition (minus a $30 administrative fee per in-person Adventures in Ideas seminar, or $15 fee per in-person Dialogues seminar) for cancellations made at least one business day before a seminar. Refunds for optional meals will be made in full for cancellations made by noon, two business days prior to a seminar.

Cancellations for virtual tickets of Weekend Seminars or Humanities in Action will incur a $5 administrative fee per cancelled ticket. Virtual tickets for Great Books Reading Groups are non-refundable once we have shipped your book or reading (normally 3-4 weeks before the start of each group).

If you have any questions, please send us an email at human@unc.edu, or call our main line, (919) 962-1544 during Monday-Friday office hours.

Hold the Date Policy

We are willing to put a tentative hold on a place for you in any of our seminars. However, if we have not received your registration and payment three weeks before the date of the seminar, we will release your hold without notification. If the seminar is sold out at that time, your space will be given to a participant on the waiting list.

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Lodging

Lodging is not provided for Adventures in Ideas seminars; however the Triangle offers a variety of lodging options, prices, and amenities. Because the Humanities Program does not guarantee availability or rates, we suggest that you make reservations at the hotel or motel of your choice as soon as you decide to attend a seminar. As you make your plans, please remember that athletic and cultural events at UNC frequently overlap with our seminars. To check about such events, you may wish to visit the University’s online calendar at events.unc.edu.

If you have difficulty making hotel reservations, please call us at 919-962-1544 so we can assist you.

The Holiday Inn Express (919-489-7555 or 800-HOLIDAY) is located at 6119 Farrington Road, near the intersection of I-40 and N.C. Highway 54 East, just east of Chapel Hill.
The Hampton Inn & Suites Chapel Hill/Durham (919-403-8700 or 800-HAMPTON) is located at 6121 Farrington Road, adjacent to the Holiday Inn Express just east of Chapel Hill.
The Hampton Inn & Suites Chapel Hill-Carrboro/Downtown (919-969-6988 or 800-HAMPTON) is located at 370 East Main Street in Carrboro, just west of Chapel Hill.
The Courtyard by Marriott Chapel Hill (919-883-0700) is located at 100 Marriott Way, off of N.C. Highway 54 east of Chapel Hill and adjacent to the Friday Center for Continuing Education and the Center for School Leadership Development.
Aloft Chapel Hill (919-932-7772) is located at 1001 S Hamilton Road, off of N.C. Highway 54 between UNC’s campus and the Friday Center for Continuing Education and the Center for School Leadership Development.
The Sheraton Chapel Hill (800-325-3535) is located at the intersection of U.S. 15-501 North and Erwin Road in Chapel Hill.
The Holiday Inn Chapel Hill (919-929-2171 or 888-452-5765) is located on the U.S. 15-501 bypass across from Eastgate Shopping Center in Chapel Hill.
Homewood Suites by Hilton (919-474-9900) is located at 4603 Central Park Dr., Durham, 10 minutes outside Chapel Hill, 5 minutes from RDU, off I-40 at Miami Blvd.
The Fearrington House Inn (919-542-2121) is located in Fearrington Village, 8 miles south of Chapel Hill on U.S. 15-501.
The Carolina Inn (800-962-8519 or 919-933-2001) 211 Pittsboro Street in Chapel Hill
The Rizzo Conference Center, McLean Hall Guestrooms (919-913-2098) 150 DuBose Home Lane in Chapel Hill
The Franklin Hotel (919-442-9000) 311 West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill
Days Inn (919-929-3090) 1312 North Fordham Blvd. in Chapel Hill
Quality Inn (919-968-3000) U.S. 15-501 North in Chapel Hill
Comfort Inn University (919-490-4949) 3508 Mt. Moriah Rd. in Durham
SpringHill Suites by Marriott (919-403-1111) Intersection of U.S. 15-501 North and I-40, north of Chapel Hill
Red Roof Inn (919-489-9421) U.S. 15-501 North and I-40, north of Chapel Hill
Residence Inn by Marriott (919-933-4848) 101 Erwin Road in Chapel Hill
Siena Hotel (800-223-7379 or 919-929-4000) 1505 East Franklin Street in Chapel Hill
Four Points by Sheraton (919-806-8200) Intersection of NC-751 and I-40, near Southpoint

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Mailing List

We send the brochure to seminar participants, to people who request it, and to teachers in North Carolina public schools. If you receive two brochures, please share a brochure with a friend. Write or call us if you’d like to change your address or remove a name from or add a name to the mailing list.

For more information about the seminars contact the Humanities Program office at 919-962-1544. Additional information, including seminar locations and maps, will be provided upon registration.

We also have a monthly electronic newsletter with interviews from faculty and participants, and listings of local humanities-related events. To subscribe, please send an email to human@unc.edu.

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Help Us Go Green!

Due to increasing financial and environmental challenges, we hope you will partner with us in reducing our carbon footprint and streamlining our registration process. Our goal during the coming year is to shift our registration and communications as much as possible away from printed paper copies and onto the Internet.

Please assist us by emailing the information below to human@unc.edu to receive brochure information in the future by electronic format only. We promise our electronic communication will be infrequent and your email address will be kept entirely confidential.

Please send your:

Name, Mailing Address, and Preferred Email Address to human@unc.edu

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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill maintains a policy of equal educational opportunity.